The $1,000 Funnel

File this one under ‘things I wish someone had told me when I was just starting out’… 🙂

One tool I WISH I had in place when I was just starting out is what I now refer to as The $1,000 Funnel. The $1,000 Funnel is the fastest and easiest way I’ve ever seen for converting visibility into cash… and, as a business owner, visibility is the LIFEBLOOD of your business.

Without visibility, in short order, you won’t be in business. Visibility, after all, leads to conversations. Conversations lead to enrollment discussions. And, enrollment discussions lead to CA$H.

And, the most cost-effective and time-efficient tool I’ve ever leveraged for creating massive, FREE visibility, is being a guest on podcasts. Yes, I’ve had my own since 2009 (Reinvention Radio) but since 2015, I’ve made a point of being a guest on as many shows as possible (500+ over the last three years) and engage in very little other marketing… because it’s so DANG effective.

The success of The $1,000 Funnel hinges on being an engaging guest and enrolling people into your ecosystem. When you’re an engaging guest, listeners will absolutely want to connect with you beyond the end of the episode because you will have piqued their interest and they’ll want to continue the conversation… in your world.

Unlike traditional broadcast media, podcast hosts will ALWAYS invite you to share the best place for listeners to get more information about you, to connect with you or to grab one of your free resources. This is where The $1,000 Funnel begins.

STEP #1 of The $1,000 Funnel is to create a free resource that furthers the discussion. Examples include eBooks, reports, blueprints, audio downloads, videos, PDFs, templates, and more. The resource doesn’t have to be overly complicated, but it must meet three key criteria:

It must be FREE and cost you nothing to deliver.

It must further the conversation from your interview, and

It must be an absolute ‘no-brainer’ to provide one’s name and email address to receive.

In other words, the listener has to feel as though the value of the freebie far exceeds the ‘price’ of providing their name and email. For example, I appear on a lot of personal development related shows where I discuss my proven framework for helping people discover their WHAT – that is, the ONE thing they were born to do. We often have deep conversations about the importance of discovering what puts fire in one’s soul and I share examples of people who have discovered their WHAT and are changing the world as a result.

At the conclusion of our interview, the host will always allow me to invite listeners to connect if they’d like more information. Now, if I’ve done my job of being an engaging guest, they’re already thinking about grabbing my book What Is Your WHAT?

So WHAT IF… rather than sending them to my main website or asking them to contact me, I share how they can get a FREE copy of my entire New York Times bestseller, What Is Your WHAT? Do you think that many of the listeners would take me up on that offer? You bet… and that’s exactly what I do.

I direct them towards WhatIsYourWHAT.com where they can grab a FREE copy of the entire book. When they land on the page and see that all they have to do is provide their name and email address and, in exchange, they’ll receive a free copy of the entire book, not just a chapter or two, it’s an easy “YES!” The value provided far exceeds the ‘cost’ and a LOT of people take me up on this.

On average, 250 provide their name and email address to get my book… EVERY TIME I appear on a show. Now, you’re likely thinking, “Ok, Steve, that’s great, but how does giving something away for free translate into cash?” Well… here’s how.

After they provide their name and email, on the thank you page, I offer them a DIFFERENT version of the exact SAME resource. In this example, I offer them a FREE hardcover copy of the book and all they have to do is pay for shipping and handling. The cost? $7.99.

Of course they can simply say no, but roughly 20% of the people who get the free eBook also say yes to buying the hard cover copy. Again, it’s an easy yes. It’s fast, convenient and far less expensive than what it would cost for them to get the physical copy on their own.

And, if you’re wondering how we make money doing this, the answer is we don’t. It’s roughly a breakeven proposition and it’s worth every dime. Why? Because it’s been shown that the most difficult AND EXPENSIVE thing to do in business is to acquire a customer and get people to spend dollar one with you. After that, the next sale is exponentially easier, the sale after that is even easier and so on – so long of course that you continue to provide exponential value with your offerings.

I equate someone investing that first dollar with you to the equivalent of going from 0 –> 98 on a bar graph. Going from 98 –> 100 is easy. It’s getting from 0 –> 98 that’s hard. Why? Because when someone pulls out their credit card and invests with you, it completely changes the dynamic.

They’ve shifted from being a passive prospect to being an active customer. And, in this scenario of acquiring a customer by appearing as a guest on a podcast, what did acquiring this customer cost? ZERO. I’ve invested nothing, other than a bit of time. That’s an ROI I’ll take all day long.

But, it doesn’t stop there. After they invest in buying the book, I then offer them a 3rd version of the EXACT SAME resource. In this case, it’s The Reinvention Workshop Online Course. For years, I led The Reinvention Workshop which is ostensibly What Is Your WHAT? live. Over the course of two days, I take people through the What Is Your WHAT? process and provide personal guidance.

We recorded one of the last Workshops I did, broke it down into short form videos, added the written materials from the live event and sell it as an online course. After someone invests in grabbing the hardcover book for $7.99, we present a one-time only offer to invest in The Reinvention Workshop Online Course for just $49 and approximately 25% of them do so.

And, here’s why I call this The $1,000 Funnel.

As I said, roughly 20% of those who opt in for the eBook choose to get a hardcover copy. This equates to 50 people. At $7.99 apiece, I generate ~ $400 in revenue. Of these 50 people, roughly 25% invest in The Reinvention Workshop Online Course. This equates to ~ 13 people. At $49 apiece, I generate, on average, $612 in revenue.

Add the two together and it adds up to $1,012 in IMMEDIATE revenue.

Remember, this entire process is automated and happens without my touching any of it. The eBook is delivered via auto responder. Book orders are sent to a fulfillment house for distribution. Access to the online course is also part of an automated sequence.

And, as I said, this is 0 –> 98 on the bar graph. The $1,000 in immediate income does NOT include sales of additional products, programs and services they will invest in down the line that add up to hundreds of thousands of dollars.

And, it gets even more compelling because, on average, I conduct 2-4 interviews a week. Using two for this example, let’s do the math.

If I appear on 2 shows a week, that’s approximately $2,000 in revenue I can count on each and every week. $2,000 a week x 4 weeks in a month, for simple math here, equates to $8,000 per month. And $8,000 per month equates to $96,000 a year… which I can count on to come in LIKE CLOCKWORK.

And, how many hours of ‘work’ per week did it take me to generate almost $100,000 a year? 2… that’s correct, just 2.

Given that the average interview will take about an hour, we’re talking about 2 hours a week to generate approximately $100,000 in a year.

Do you think you can find two extra hours a week to do this? You bet you can!

And, if you’re excited about this opportunity but are thinking, “Ok, Steve, that’s all well and good for you, but I don’t have a freebie or other offerings,” I’ll tell you this.

If you sat down on a Saturday morning and dedicated just a few hours each day over the weekend to this process, by Sunday night you’d have a high converting $1,000 Funnel of your own to benefit from for years to come.

And, believe me, it’s well worth the investment of your time and energy. I’ve been using the SAME $1,000 Funnel I just shared for YEARS and have literally set it and forget it.

I honestly don’t remember the last time I so much as touched it. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it… and my $1,000 Funnel continues to generate revenue for me daily.

You can absolutely do this too.

I hope this opens your eyes up to the possibilities creating your own $1,000 Funnel can provide for you and your business.

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